| OLPC mulls 1-for-2 deal on ultra-low-cost Linux laptops |
Jan. 11, 2007
 The One Laptop Per Child project is considering an arrangement whereby anyone can buy one of the group's self-powered, low-cost Linux laptops for themselves -- provided they buy a second one for delivery to a child in a developing country.
The project aims to distribute -- free of charge -- millions of low-cost, self-powered, Linux laptops to needy children around the world, with governments making the purchases. The original cost target for the OLPC laptops was $100, but that number has drifted upward slightly over the past year or so.
"'Buy one for the price of two' is one of the ideas that has been floating around for a commercial machine," Walter Bender, the Cambridge, Mass.-based project's president for software and content told DesktopLinux.com.
If such a scheme is implemented, the organizers would like to put each buyer in touch with the child who receives the second computer as a "sponsor" of sorts.
"If, when, where, and how we implement that scheme is to be determined. Almost certainly not before sometime in 2008, when we will be less supply-constrained," Bender told DesktopLinux.com.
Michalis Bletsas, the chief connectivity officer for the project, told the BBC Monday that eBay is going to help them sell the machines to consumers, but details about how that part of the distribution would work were not made available.
The idea behind the OLPC laptop is to provide children with the opportunity to learn about learning itself -- to explore, experiment and express themselves, an OLPC spokesperson said. The laptops will be distributed in schools.
AMD, News Corp, Google, Brightstar, Red Hat Linux, Nortel, Marvell, eBay, Quanta, Chi Mei, SES/Astra, and Citigroup are founding members of OLPC. The United Nations and Inter-American Development Bank are its non-profit partners.
The OLPC project, based at the MIT media lab in Cambridge, Mass., is well into its second year. Recently, the New York Times reported that Libya became the fifth country to express serious interest in the inexpensive student laptop -- the others being Nigeria, Brazil, and Argentina . Brazil and Thailand had expressed some early interest in the project but have since cooled on the idea for various internal reasons.
More about the OLPC Project
For lots of background on the OLPC's Linux-based low-cost laptop project -- including features, specs, and a timeline of announcements -- be sure to peruse our comprehensive OLPC special report:
(Click here for further information)
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